16 Haitians detained after landing on Portland coast
Toriann Ellis / Our Today
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More than a dozen Haitians were taken into custody by police in West Portland on Sunday morning after reportedly landing along the parish’s northern coastline shortly after midnight.
The group is believed to have come ashore in the vicinity of Hope Bay or St Margaret’s Bay.
Police sources say the group comprises 10 adult males, four adult females and two children.
They are currently being held at the Port Antonio Police Station, where they are expected to undergo screening and medical examinations.
The group was reportedly detained after residents alerted police to suspicious activity involving individuals seen disembarking from a boat on a beach in western Portland.
It is understood that the vessel made landfall undetected, and investigators are now seeking to determine whether additional individuals may have left the area before police arrived.
The latest landing forms part of a broader pattern of Haitian arrivals along Jamaica’s northern and eastern coastline in recent years, as worsening conditions in Haiti have driven continued migration attempts across the region.
In most previous cases, groups have been intercepted and processed by security forces, with some returned and others applying for asylum
The development also comes at a politically sensitive moment as public debate intensifies over a controversial deportation arrangement with the United States for Jamaica to temporarily accept non-Jamaican third-country nationals deported by America.
More details to come.
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